A Cinderella Story
by bloodmoon13
Summary: Sam has only her hopes of going to college to get away from her aunt and cousins. And for just one night she wants to meet the person that she has been chatting on line with for the past three months. What happens when she sees that he's a hottie!
1. Chapter 1

**This idea has been just bursting to get out and I can't hold it in any longer! I don't know why but most of my ideas come from the most random places possible. This one came to me when I was feeding my dog for some reason. That's just how my brain works. Go figure? I'll put up more ideas that I have on my profile so you guys can say what you want me to write about next. Updates will be pretty slow considering I now have less time on the computer than before. Hopefully when I turn 14 this June I can get a job so I can save up for my own computer.**

**Prologue**

**Once upon a time**

Once upon a time, there lived a king and queen; they had a beautiful daughter which they named Samantha. They were happy until one day the king and queen had a fatal accident. So the princess went to live with her grandmother in another kingdom when she was barely a year old and so…

Okay you know what I'm just gonna stop right there. I mean… who would actually buy this crap.

To start off my name is Sam Manson. Anyone (except my grandmother) who dare calls me by my real name better pray that they wake up with their limbs still attached to their bodies in the morning.

Anyway, my parents died when I was really young. I can't even remember them. So I went to live with my grandmother in Amity Park. For a time it was great, I mean she was like a mom to me. We did everything together; whenever I had a problem she was always right there. She didn't care if I was a bit strange, she was always there for me.

She owned two of the coolest places in Amity. A café/bookshop called _The Jade Dragon_ and a retro skating rink called _Blitz. _Everyone loved my grandma. We'd go out in her 1980's red mustang and go to the park where we'd play some soccer then head down to the mall for an ice cream.

Everything was perfect…

Then my grandma had a heart attack. The doctors weren't sure if she was going to make it. But being a fighter at heart she did pull through, but she was never the same. She would get tired really quickly and even though I was only seven I knew that she needed help.

The doctors at the hospital said that maybe it would be a good idea I a family member came and stayed with us to make sure that she was taken care of. We didn't have any close relatives and the closest one was my dear old Aunt Claire…

At first it wasn't so bad. She was nice enough to me and she did have two twin girls my age for me to play with. It seemed like my grandma was doing fine and would have her old strength back. Everything would go back to the way they were before.

Boy was I wrong…

Things didn't get any better. In fact, they got worse and the night before my ninth birthday was what had changed everything in a matter of a minute. On a rainy, cold night it happened…

"_And they set off on the wings of their magnificent beasts into the sky on their next quest…"_

"_Read it to me again Grandma!"_

"_Again! Sammy this is the third time I've read you this story, don't you want to here the next one?" she said with a gentle tone as she tucked me into bed. _

"_Pleeeeaaase," I begged. _

_She rubbed her chin thinking thoughtfully before she said, "Alright, scoot over then," she sat beside me opening the book in her hand to the right page, "Once upon…"she stopped shortly, she had a secret smile on her face. Despite all of the wrinkles and her gray hair to me she was the mot beautiful person I've ever met._

"_What is it?" I asked. The only time I've ever seen her smile like that was when she had a really big secret to tell but I always had to guess before she told me. _

"_I was just thinking…"_

"_About what?" _

"_Oh how I'm so lucky to have a grand daughter like you," she gave me a great big hug, stood up glancing at the snow globe on my night that had a crystal dragon in the center with its wings half-way stretched out. "Do you remember when I gave you this?" she spoke softly, deep in thought. _

"_Uh-huh," I nodded, "you gave it to me on my fifth birthday."_

"_That's right," she turned to face me holding the round glass firmly in her hand, "and do you remember what I told you that day?"_

_I cocked my head at her, "Yeah you said that the dragon was like me, just waiting and getting ready to spread its wings out and soar."_

_Grandma's eyes sparkled like stars in the sky filled with love for me, "You know I won't be with you forever," she sighed and looked at me seriously, "But you must never let anyone hold you back. Do you understand? Sam, people will try to take advantage of you and you must never let that happen." She held my face so I starred into her eyes, and for the first time in a long time I felt like crying. Reality hit me hard that the person I loved the most might not always be there for me. "I'm telling you this because I know that no matter what you'll always be strong."_

_Tears started forming in my eyes for some reason. I just felt like snuggling into her lap hugging her tight and never letting go. I held back because I was a big girl and big girls don't cry. Still I couldn't help it, a few teardrops rolled down my cheek and I hugged my grandma. _

_She seemed surprised at first before she also hugged me. I could the faint smell of gingerbread and peppermint on her usual green sweater. We hung onto each other for a second before we let go with tears on both of us. But it was the happy kind of tears._

"_Well," she sniffed smiling, "It's time for bed Sam."_

_I got comfortable under my purple sheets, laying my head on my pillow next to the one Grandma had made for me when I has sick one day. It had a lavender rose on it that matched my eyes on a dark blue background. Having it close to me always made me feel better._

_She got up with the big golden book under one arm. "Please, can you leave the book here tonight?" She blinked before handing me the book. It was one of her most prized possessions. A thick book that had some of the best stories I've ever heard. The gold metal straps caught the light of the lamp making it shine like the sun. The rainbow opal in the center looked so alive then. _

_The stared at the book in my hands, "You know this book contains something very important for you Sammy,"_

"_Really! What is it?" I asked eagerly. _

"_I'll tell you," she kissed my forehead brushing off a loose strand of my black hair aside, "Someday, but for night it's time for you to go to bed."_

"_Aaaawwwww," I whined, "But I'm not sleeeeepy," I tried to fight back a huge yawn and failed causing my grandmother to raise an eyebrow._

"_Sorry but that yawn says otherwise. Beside tomorrow is a big day for you and you do not want to sleep through it do you?"_

_I shook my head admitting defeat, "No,"_

"_Night sweetie," she said as she turned off the light and closed the door behind her._

"_Good-night Grandma," I whispered softly then added, "I love you." I closed my eyes, clutching the pillow close to me before falling asleep with the soft drumming of the rain outside to lull me to sleep. Its soft rhythm sounded really comfortable that night. My body was tired but my mind was buzzing around like a bee hive._

_I just couldn't wait for tomorrow. With Grandma downstairs making my favorite breakfast of vegetarian chocolate-chip pancakes, then we'd go off to buy me a birthday present, after that we'd go to the café so I can blow out the candles on the cake with the entire staff of the café and skating rink there. We were all like one big family. After that we'd get fireworks and have a big bonfire where anyone was invited. _

_I could already smell the smell of burning wood and marshmallows…_

_The next thing I knew was that someone was shaking me hard trying to get me to wake up. I groaned, rubbing my eyes at the person shaking me. "Wats goin' un" I yawned. My vision cleared and I could see smoke coming into my room through the door. The temperature inside was probably hot enough to cook a chicken. A faint red and orange glow was coming from the hallway. "What's happening?" _

"_I have to get you out of here!" I knew that it wasn't my grandmother who had woken me up but a stranger who looked like one of those monsters who work for the bad guy in movies. I panicked and screamed, "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"_

"_Come down, everything will be alright," he or she reassured me, "Now lets get you out of here." They scooped me up in their arms holding me close to them._

"_Wait!" I cried out, I got loose from their grasp ran back to my bed to get the book, and snow globe. _

"_Come on I have to get you out of here now!" they insisted urgently. The sound of the wooden beam starting to be devoured by the fire startled, "Let's go!" Not waiting for me they just grabbed my making sure I was close to them. "Are you ready?" I was to terrified to answer my heart was hammering away inside of my ribcage and I felt my legs suddenly turn to Jell- right beneath me. It was safe to say that I was pretty freaked out about it._

_The firefighter threw some sort of damp blanket over me. I was really relieved at the time that I couldn't see the flames eating away at anything they touched. But it didn't block out the noises of it..._

_I was still clutching the book and snow globe hard, praying, that I would still be alive in the next few minutes. Being underneath the blanket felt like being in a sauna. The person carrying me over their shoulders like a sack of potatoes bolted into a sprint. I could feel a rain pour of embers coming down on us and I felt the fireman wince in pain. _

_The heat was becoming unbearable now and all I could do was wait and see if we were going to die a horrible fiery death. I kept waiting and waiting for the flames to just eat us up but they never came. The temperature was cooler; someone removed the blanket from over my head. _

_My mind was spinning and I was terrified and confused. I didn't even realize the few burns I had on my arms and legs. All that I saw were blurs rushing past me and talking really loud, shouting at others to hurry and to put the fire out. My head didn't stop spinning until I yelped out in pain. _

_I saw a woman in a paramedic's outfit holding out my arm applying some really nasty smelling stuff to my arm that stung like hell. "Hang on sweetie," she said softly, "I just have to bandage up your burns and that's it. You're lucky they're only first degree burns." I didn't say anything, "You know, you can let go of those things if you want to." She pointed at the globe and book I still had in my arm. I loosened my grip on them so that she could finish treating my arm. "There we go; you're a brave little girl." She got up and walked towards the ambulance where I saw them loading a stretcher into the back. _

_Being the stupid naïve eight year old turning nine girl I was then, I wanted to see who it was. I couldn't get any closer than ten feet when another paramedic stopped me. _

"_You can't go near the ambulance little girl," he said rudely holding his arms out in a blocking way so I couldn't pass. _

"_But I-" _

"_Go wait over there with the nice policeman," before I could retort back and give that guy a piece of my mind. He walked away and climbed into the back of the ambulance slamming the doors shut. The white van sped off with it's siren blaring down on the people who had come to watch 'didn't they have anything better to do in the middle of the night?' I thought, 'apparently not…'_

_Picking up my book and globe I starred in awe at the flames before me as they reached into the night sky, roaring in fury as the firefighters tried to maintain is so that it wouldn't spread to the other homes around it. Our once so called 'home' was beyond saving now. _

_When my mind had finally caught up to what had just happened I started looking around for my grandma. Over the chaos of things it was nearly impossible. My cries couldn't be heard over the fire, firemen, and sirens in the air. Sighing I went to the edge to wait until everything calmed down to look for her. _

_I hugged my knees to my chest watching the crowd, eventually things got a little less chaotic at last. The fire was under control at last. What was weird was that there were only two fire trucks there to put it up when there is usually at least five._

_The crowd dispersed with every person who had come out of their homes to watch went home and I could now see a lot more clearly now. I spotted my aunt and cousins talking to a policeman. _

_Her face was all red and there were tears on her face, Nina and Tina were sticking close to their mom with shock glued onto their twin faces. Something had to be going on, something big…_

_Nothing ever made my aunt cry, nothing._

_Walking over to where they were, I noticed that Aunt Clare's face was red because of a few burns she had. They didn't notice me coming until I was two feet away. The officer blinked and then addressed my aunt._

"_Is she one of yours?"_

"_No, she's my cousin's daughter,"_

"_Where are they?"_

"_Their dead," she said quickly. _

"_Oh…uh…I see," he muttered looking rather uncomfortable. Most people act that way when they learn that I didn't have any parents. "Well then… are you her guardian then?" They had completely ignored me, forgetting that I was right there. And to tell you the truth it was really starting to tick me off… _

"_No, her grandmother was," she explained with a sigh. _

"_Oh well where is she?" _

_Aunt Clare opened her mouth to answer then closed it when she noticed that I was still there. "Oh Sam!" she looked surprised to see me still standing there, "Sweetie we were just-"_

"_Where's my grandma?" I cut her off. I knew something was wrong with the uneasy looks that the officer and my aunt exchanged as if looking for the right words to the truth. I held the two objects I had taken with me from my room tightly until my knuckles turned white. "Something's wrong."_

_No one answered me, and I found it that it was hard to swallow the huge lump in my throat. I was trembling now as all the worst thoughts imaginable rushed through my head all ending in the same way._

_It surprised me when it wasn't one of the adults that answered me but my cousin Tina._

"_She's dead," she piped out. I gasped with my mouth hanging open. _

"_Tina!" exclaimed my aunt. _

"_But it's true!" responded Nina backing her sister up. "We heard the paramedics say that she lost a lot of blood and tha-"_

"_That's enough Nina!" Aunt Clare hissed. _

"_But Moooom!"_

"_I said that's enough!"_

My world just went down hill from there.

Eventually I found out the truth about that night. It turned out that at least twelve other places had caught on fire and there was mass panic everywhere. A few people got hurt with damaged lungs from breathing in smoke or a few burns.

There was only _one_ death though…

No one knew what had caused the fires. No one saw anything, there were no sources saying that they were set. It was as if they just appeared out of thin air…

With my grandmother dead, and her not leaving a will. My aunt got everything, the café, roller rink, and all of my grandmother's money in the bank. And as my only living family, by state, I was now hers.

She bought a big house in one of the better areas in the city. It had a nice lawn and garden, and a pool in the back with a tanning booth and sauna too. Before I thought that Aunt Clare just tolerated me to be nice, not long after my grandma's funeral was that I found out that she only wanted to be nice to me so that grandma would include her in her will.

At the time I was vulnerable, in shock and completely heartbroken. I just didn't care anymore about anything. I didn't care that Aunt Clare stuck me in the attic and with most of the chores; I didn't care if Tina and Nina were mean to me.

I just didn't care…

The only ones who cared were my grandma's employees. They kept me from completely falling into permanent depression. By then I was already used to being bossed around. I worked two jobs by the time I was fourteen. Clare made it clear that she was only going to feed and shelter me because of state law. Other than that I was like a servant, employee, and student at the same time.

And this is my story…


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay at last I get to this story but look on the bright side, school is almost over and I only have a few days to go until the ultimate freedom is here!**

* * *

_**Chapter 1**_

* * *

It's been nearly nine years since that night and I've grown up a lot since then. I was already working my butt off every day and getting straight A's. To anyone I was a Goth who had a bright future ahead of them.

That's right I said Goth, I decided a long time ago not to be brainwashed by the propaganda of the media who make people think that their so called 'fashion' designs were what's 'in' and 'cool'.

When all they really were was nothing more than trampy looking clothes that looked more like underwear and made girls act like total sluts out in public. Guys are even worse drooling over a girl because of how they look instead of their personality. Uh! What makes boys think that it's ok to judge a girl by how pretty she was anyway…?

I have had way too many boys hit on me at the café where I work. They'd walk up to me with a stupid cocky grin and start flirting with me thinking that they could get my number or e-mail.

HA! Fat chance. I did date this one guy because my friend Vicky kept on nagging me to do it. So I did and I'll admit it was fun at first, we had a lot in common. Then I found out that he was nothing more than a big phony who put on a different act for different girls so that he could get on their good side (_and under their skirts_). I told that loser off and dumped him head on when he asked me to be his girlfriend at this really nice restaurant.

It was so awesome! When the food came I dumped it all over him that ought to show that perv not to mess with me. It took all of the boys in town at least three years to get it through their shallow minds that I wasn't going to date anyone of them. Especially, after I gave this a guy a broken wrist, and nose for feeling me up.

I would have gladly given the jerk more than just a broken nose, but Vicky and a few of the employees at the _Jade Dragon (now Clare's Gourmet Cafe) _held on to me until I calmed down. Clare threatened to have me cleaning toilets for a year if I ever did something like that again.

It wasn't because she cared about me but rather about her precious little reputation as the owner of the café. She just didn't want me to ruin _her good name_ and the business.

The roller rink she sold a year ago because she said that it was hiddious and smelled bad. What do you expect when you don't hire someone to clean it every three days.

She is always yelling at me that I ought to be more like my cousins. But they are two of the top five people I never wanted to be like, and that I didn't like, or rather I loathe them with cell in my body.

I think of plenty of people I dislike right off the top of my head without even trying. People who couldn't see past outer appearances and judged someone right then and there without having had said one word to them!

Believe me; I get plenty of that because of my dark clothing, make-up, and out look on life. Especially from-

"_**SAM!!!!"**_

_Speak of the Devil herself…_

I sat up from bed and looked at the speaker on my night stand. I scolded for a moment, this was the second time I had been interrupted this morning and I am already tired from having to stay up until three in the morning to finish my book report for Lancer.

Uh... Why I even had to learn about the consept behind symbolysim and theatrical influince in the complete works of Shakesphere was beyond me. Sure I liked the guys plays but believe me, if you had to sit through reading about nothing but concept for more or less and hour everyday for three weeks straight you'd be ready to pull your own eyeballs out from sheer boredom.

That and, I didn't get home last night until at least one in the morning since Clare had me working double night shift at both the cafe and the roller rink. I was ready to drop dead and go to sleep for the next three years. But no! I had that stupid assignment to do. If I ever wanted to get as far away as possible from Clare and the clones I had to make sure I got a scholarship to college. Clare made it very clear that she wasn't going to waste money on 'a pathetic excuse' like me.

So now I have to either save up the money on my minimum wage jobs or get a scholar ship. Either way, I have to work my butt off...

Emerging from the comfort of my bed, I stood up and stretched my stiff body. Four hours of sleep is defienetly not enough for a person. It's times like this that I hate morning more than I hate-

**_"SAM!!!"_**

**_"COMING!!!" _**I yelled back grinding my teeth so much that I nearly chipped a tooth. Too bad for me I was so focused on how much I hated my gaurdian that I failed to see my favorite pair of boots on the floor and ended up flat on my face and anging my knee on m night stand. Cringing in pain I got up and picked up a pair of clean clothes and slid them on.

A black corset with a purple spider in the middle, a black skirt with purple plaid stripes on it, and finally my boots. Flattening my black hair, which was standing up in all direction and was currently a tangled mess. I haven't looked in the mirror but I bet I probably looked like hell right about now.

I closed the door to my room behind me making sure that I had my key around my neck, satisfy that I had it I shut the door behind me. Now people might ask _why_ did a teenage girl need to lock her bedroom door everytime she left it. Well the answer is pretty obvious.

The clones were always coming into my room and taking my things or my homework and nver giving them back and when I told on them Aunt Clare would just accuse me of hiding my things to get new ones! As if! I don't believe in material possesions. I only like a few things but those spoiled air-heads, who have _everything, _always want anything they don't need and don't have just to show it off in front of everyone.

Getting a lock was the only way that I could be sure that everything in there wouldn't end up in_ their royal highnesses' _rooms. Amazing what lengths a girl has to go to to get some privacy in this high class barbie house.

Since, my room was on the third floor I had three flights of stairs to climb down from, that didn't help improve my already worse than usual mood. A vibrating sensation came from the beeper at my side, glancing down I saw it said _'pool'_. Like I didn't already know that Clare wanted her breakfest by the pool as she did every morning.

Yawning as I made my way around the kitchen to get her breakfast that consisted of whole wheat low-fat toast, baked bagels with light cream cheese, and finally the main course, Swedish goat meat with a side of freshly imported Japanese carp.

I shudderred as I had to handle the raw meat out of the fridge. The smell made me want to gag but I held it in and stopped breathing through my nose and only breathed through my mouth. Still just the thought of touching a dead animal and eating it made my eyes water.

As if it wasn't bad enough that Clare made me cook this stuff and touch it with my hands, considering I'm a vegeterian. But that's Clare for you, as sensitive to others as stampeding elephant. God only knows her butt was as big as one. Which explains why she's trying out this new diet that she heard a bout at one of those social parties for the wealthy.

Ever since she turned forty and got her first wrinkle she's become obsessed about mainting her figure and looking young for as long as possible. The goat and carp were supposed to help her lose wieght and prevent wrinkles. Since the diet had food imported from around the world it was only for those who could afford it.

Clare just loved to show off her money in fron of everyone, from the cars in the garage to the her clothes, make-up, shoes, even the way she talked just seemed to say 'I'm richer and better than you are'. Personally it made me sick to see people like that walk around thinking they had the right to treat people like dirt.

Hey what's that smell? Oh crap! I pulled myself out of my thoughts to see that Clare's breakfast was almost burnt. A second longer and I would have served Clare a very crispy piece of toast. Flipping the pan over so that the goat slid onto the plate, I breathed a sigh in relief. The fish didn't look burnt at all only one side was a bit black but that could easily pass off for some pepper, and the goat was... well... Honestly I couldn't tell the difference since it still looked its nasty original state only it smelled slightly better.

I put the plate on a tray with a glass of freshly squeezed Mexican orange juice and a bowl of bran cereal with a heart shaped strawberry in the middle. The tray was pretty easy to carry considering I've been doing this for years under Clare's care. If she was going to have a _burden _like me then it better be able to carry a simple tray every morning.

I pushed the back door open with my foot and steeped out into the backyard where my gaurdian was busy tanning in her new disigner bathing suite while reading this week's issue of _'Aging yet Young and Beautiful'. _She didn't need to turn around to see me coming with her food. It was like she had some kind of radar...

Wouldn't surprise me with all the plastic surgery she's had these past few years. I swear, she has got to be half flesh and half plastic...

"About time you came," Again she starts to criticize me, an it's not even eight yet. I held my tounge back and only said. "Sorry," I placed the food next to her and stood back, "Anything else?" This was pretty much the same routine every day, no matter how much I wanted to slap that fake face of hers and shove all of that plastic nose job right up her-

"No," she replied waving me off, "Now go," I turned to leave when she addressed me again, "Oh and Sam I need you to work today at the cafe before you go to school."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes, _of course she wanted me to work, _she always wants me to work. Instead, I just walked away grabbing my back pack that I had left by the door for a quick escape and rounded the corner so I could just leave through the front yard.

Just as I was walking a gallon of water almost splashed my feet and nearly soaked my shoes. I turned to see who had done that and caught sight of the clones in the pool in what _was_ supose to be water ballay and dance. But to me it just looked like tey were trying to call for help and drown each other at the same time. I bit my lip from laughing out loud at them.

"Sorry about that!"

I knew that voice anywhere and turned to greet him. "Hey Josh!"

"Hey Sam!" He called back before turning back to _try_ to intruct, key word _try, _Tina and Nina on how to _not _look like a couple of drowning ducks in floral pink bathing suits. _As if that was possible..._

As I closed the gate I could hear him say, "_Okay, ladies one more time. It's step, step, spin, duck, flip, and then emerge gracefully out of the water into a swan..." _I chuckled to myself at the sound of shrieks and insults being flung into the air.

"_Tina_! Stop slashing me you idiot!"

"Well _maybe_ I wouldn't be slashing you if you'd stick to the _routine_!"

"_Oh_ and like _you're_ sticking to the routine!?

"Uh. Yeah...I AM!"

"HA! You look like more like a dancing monkey in a pink tutu."

"Why You Little-!"

After that came the sound of what sounded like they were in one of their hissy fits with each other. Normally I'd love to watch... but unlike them I actually had to work. _Still maybe I should_ _think about taping their fights..._

It be so cool to put them on Youtube too...

Shaking my head from my thoughts I headed to my grandmother's car, which is now _my _car. It was one of those things that survived the fire but only because it was at the shop. It was also one of those things that Clare gave to me saying I was a perfect match to 'that old piece of junk'.

_She probably didn't want to buy me a car either._

I didn't mind.

I liked the car and it was one of the things that kept me close to her.

When I have one of those rare moments to myself, I like to drive around town or around the block like I used to do with my grandma. The wind hitting my face felt good and there's this old road that leads into the woods where nobody goes.

Good. No one to get in my way when I hit over the speed limit.

This my sound corny, but it almost makes me feel like I'm flying...

For just a few seconds nothing matters and all that I have to care about is not to burn out the engine. Otherwise I'd have to manually restar the engine, and sometimes it doesn't start up and I'd have to push it all the way to the nearest gas station or wait for the engine to cool down a bit.

So what if my car wasn't the latest or even one of those gas eating buckets of colored metal that only abused our planets resources and polluted the air and killed off the ozone layer. I pulled in for one of those second hand bio-egines about a few months ago and I can honestly say that I don't have to spend as much cash on gas than most people in this town.

I've tried to get some of the local car dealerships to switch or to sell more evironmental friendly cars but they all just laughed in my face saying that I should just go and take my little petition to someone else or to go hug a tree. One of them even had the gall to call me _'babe'!_

_That sexiest_ _sorry excuse for a-!_

Unfortunetly I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed that it was almost eight and I had only about ten minutes to get to work. Just as I when I had alomst reached my car the sprinklers came on. I yelped in surprise and ran to the faucet to turn them off. The hem of my skirt was soaked and so was part of the back of my shirt.

My fingers fumbled as I tried to turn the water off. **_"SAM leave the water on!" _**Clare called out from her spot by the pool.

"But we need to conserve water! We're in the middle of a draught!" I yelled back irritated.

**_"So that's not my problem, besides we already conserved water. I didn't have the car washed twice yesterday and I didn't have the lawn watered last night!"_**

"BUT-!"

**_"Look, we already saved some water and we have the money so why is it my problem!"_**

Reluclantly, I turned the water back on. I scowled in the back of my head because of my so called gaurdian's carelessness. Mayor Masters had said that this would be one of the harshest druaghts that Amity has had in over fifty years and _she_ was just using up all of the water when others were doing all that they could to help the city.

But that's Clare for you. Shallow as an empty kiddie pool.

I climbd into my car and started th engine. It sputtered to life after a few try's, as I pulled out of the driveway I shook my head in disgust at the sight of Clare's house. It was _literally_ the only green you could see for at least three blocks. As I drove to the cafe I could see dead and bare lawns with grass that crinkled in the wind and looked more like someone had taken a brown marker and colored over every lawn.

The gardens, that my neighbors thought so highly of, were now reduced to only a few flowers here and there in pots and some that were lucky enough to have grown in the shade. Even those looked like they were just about ready to wither and die. Kinda like the meat loaf on Thursdays at my school...

The sun beat down hard as I drove to work, and since the radio was only playing stupid sublimital advertisment, it did nothing to help my alredy befouled mood. By the time I pulled into the parking lot I was hot, sweaty, cranky and my knee still hurt from this morning.

At least my clothes were dried now.

The sight of the cafe made me want to hurl more than handling raw meat. Ever since Clare took over she turned it into some sort of, of... I can't even describe it but picture Polly Pocket combine with My Little Pony set back in the fifties and it was still worse than that!

The outside looked like a classic fifties diner, which, normall wouldn't have bugged me since I actually find that sort of retro stuff kinda of cool. But not when it's painted '_poodle pink_'. At least she kept the huge bay windows that I liked to loo out of when I was little and just watch th cars and people go by.

And the cafe no longer had shelves that covered half the walls full of books that ranged between cooking to even mythological theories and advance scientific studies. Clare had decided that books weren't as important and that books were more for nerds instead of customers.

Instead there was now booths under tiny chandaliers that hung from the ceiling on one wall, and on the other there was a juke box with some of the most _annoying _songs _ever!_ There was no longer any good bands on it anymore like Linkin Park, Green Day, or Dumpty Humpty.

The jingle of the bell that hung over the door announce my arrival to the staff. "Hey Sam!" they chorused together. I waved back and got to work cleaning the tables and floors. I was almost done with table six and sat down for a five minute break and tried to study for my history test today. When a familiar voice grabbed my attention.

"Sam?"

I turned to greet the person, "Hey Vicky," I said casually.

"Don't you 'hey Vicky' me, what are you doing here? You should be in school." She placed one hand on her hip and with the other she pointed to my open text book.

"Clare wanted me to-"

Vicky held her hand up to silence me, "Say no more, look Sam, you'll never get into college if you're stuck in this poodle palace."

"But-"

"She's right Sam," Greg, the head chef said with his Latin accent, "You should be in school."

Soon Randy, Flora, and Kie joined in stopping what they were doing for a second.

Flora was nearly fifty-four, but she had more energy than meets the eye. Despite her grey hair, few wrinkle, and small, fragile looking frame. She walked over to my with a tray of clean dishes and wagged her finger at me, "You better stop cleaning right now before I have to make you," she positioned the tray and huffed away muttering, _"Just ain't right to have young people working like slaves, just ain't right..."_

"I know you need the money, but what's the point of saving for college if you don't go to school once in a while." Kie added looking up (or down) from his work at fixing a light.

Randy looked at his watch, he took away the mop in my hands and hel it out of my reach so I couldn't get it from him, "You're going to be late if you don't hurry."

I opened my mouth to argue but closed when I saw the gleam and defiant look on Vicky's face and sighed, "Thanks you guys."

"No problem, and don't you worry about Clare, _I'll _handle her," she ushered me out the door.

I shook my head grateful that I had a friend like her. Vicky was not someone who you'd want to get mad. The fiery Hawian had been sort of a mother to me ever sinc my grandma passed away and was always looking out for me. The people who worked at the cafe were more of family than Clare ever was or ever will be.

I stopped and slapped my head when I realized that I had left behind my book. Turning around I saw Vicky leaning against the door with my book in her hand. "Forgetting something?" she saud innocently.

"Hehe, thanks Vicky," I said meekly blushing a bit. My watched started to beep which could only mean one thing... "Oh man I'm going to be late!" Grabbing my book I sprinted to my car and started it up. Within five seconds I was pulling out of the parking lot. "See-ya Vicky!" I waved good-bye.

"Good Luck on your test today!" she answered back.

It looked like my luck was changing a bit since I got to school with a few minutes to spare. I breath in relief, now all I had to do was find a parking space...

* * *

**That's chapter two and now it's time to soak my fingers in some ice and start worrying about what I got on my finals. So far I did pretty good in science the rest is a mystery and I'm scared to find out. At least schools almost out and I won't have to worry about this sort of stuff until August. The next stories I'll update will be _Burdens_ and _Who is He. Now... where's that ice...?_**

**Special thanks to Ali Phantom for being my beta-reader**


	3. Chapter 3

**I love the musical Wicked and my sister thinks that it's an opera! Can you believe it? She doesn't even know the difference so she shouldn't be talking right? I don't talk crap about her stuff so why is she bugging me about the music I listen to when I know for a fact that she took some of my cds in order to download the songs into her MP3 player. **_**(Sighs) **_

* * *

_**Chapter 3**_

* * *

You know how the all the animals are separated at the zoo based on their species or group? Well Casper High is just like that except that all of the animals can talk (most of the time).

We have the nerds in corner playing chess and trading cards from the latest edition of Star Wars collectables. Drama club drinking coffee and practicing for another school play that is probably months away from débuting.

But hey you know what they say about practice makes perfect right?

Next we have the Skaters at the front of the building grinding on the hand rail while the teachers and principal aren't looking and giving each others high fives for nailing some sort of cool trick of a trash can or bench.

Future CEO's of America discussing the rise and falls of the stock market and charting anything that they think could be a big seller to anyone they choose. I remember they once sold Goth stuff even going as far as dressing like one and standing in front of Heavy Metal rock concerts selling chains and T-shirts.

...It didn't go so well if getting beaten up and thrown out and banned from ever going within a hundred feet of any metal concert means anything.

I almost felt sorry for them, _almost, _but then they shouldn't have tried pretending to be something they're not just to make a quick buck. I say it served the jerks right.

Art Club, Punks, Rockers, and Surfers... Honestly it just seems to go on for ever. Though I have no problem with any clicks at all, personally I think it's wrong to label someone as soon as they step into the brick building known as a facility for educating young minds. Especially when that someone labeling them is...

"Watch it **_loser!"_**

I was roughly pushed aside in order to make room for the so called 'perfection' of this school full egotistic idiots who enjoy the pleasure of putting those who they considered beneath them down and ridiculing those who have the nerve to be different than what's in or cool.

I swear that fate just throws things at me one time for no apparent reason just to tick me off. Why can't it ever work when I wish for it to be illegal to industrialize the rain forest or something?

It took all of my will just to hold back from slapping that make-up off of her face right there and then when she pushed me into the lockers just so she could strut down the halls with her little cronies like the heartless slut she was. I really wasn't in the mood to start a fight with the Wicked Witch of the West at the moment so I chose to ignore it and just concentrate on heading to homeroom where I could at least get a bit of studying done for my math test today.

You know how I mentioned Paulina earlier and the different animal groups around here? Of course you do.

She fits in as the top of the food chain with all the other jocks, preps, and cheer leaders of the school who are deemed the gods of the school by the rest of the student body because of there looks and money and it was a rare thing to find one of them with the brains to match at Casper and especially rare to find one without a huge head the size of Canada.

Grinding my teeth I just chanted a favorite song of mine by Linkin Park to calm myself and just continue to class before the bell rang and Lancer gave me a detention.

There was no way that I was going to create a problem that I couldn't fix at the moment not when I had enough to deal with. I'd find a way to get back at Paulina for today for sure though I promised myself mentally.

True that I'm opposed of violence but who ever said that I couldn't bend the rules a bit and this was something that I can always make an acceptation for.

Yawning I cringed when I realized that I still needed to go to my locker to get a few things. Double tracking back the way I came I took a left at the turn dodging the mob of students as they chatted with their friends and just hung out a bit before everyone was forced to endure seven hours of education that was government approved.

It wasn't hard to mistake my locker since it was pretty much avoided like a plague ever since Paulina and her cronies decided that it would be funny to write a story for the school paper on how I have dead bodies hidden in my locker and that it was cursed with all sorts of charms and spells to keep spirits away.

Yeah right!

That was the biggest load of bull ever! But like always everyone believed Little Miss Pretty in Pink, if I didn't already loathe that girl before I did then and now.

It just seemed that she was always looking for a way to torture me and all because I refused to bow down to her and let that little witch walk all over me with her over priced high heeled pumps.

Even the teachers were afraid of me for about a week after that story was printed until someone mistook it for their locker by mistake and opened it up. Even though that proved that it was just a rumor that still didn't mean that people would shut up and forget about it.

Don't they have their own lives to talk about?

Three kids whispered to each other as they glanced my way with a fearful look on their faces. They quickly stopped and headed down the hall when they saw that I had seen them.

_Apparently not..._

Rolling my eyes I inserting the combination in order to open my locker and finally gain access to my stuff inside. To say the least I like to personalize my things a bit and my locker was no exception.

The inside of the door was covered in some of my favorite pictures of all time and a few of my anime drawings. I love photography and animation arts and was hoping on following it up as a career in college when I graduated from Casper.

Some of the pictures were of some really awesome night time sceneries around town like the park of the woods while my sketches would be of just people in my life and what I thought they would look like if they were ever turned into cartoons.

And being Goth of course the interior was black; I used it for my book covers. Other than the decoration of a small bat hanging from the top and the color my locker was just like anybody else's.

Books for every subject thrown in there on top of one another, some personal items like some of my make-up and one or two of my chokers hanging from the hooks, and an extra pair of clothes just in case.

Unfortunately I was too busy memorizing Newton's third law of physics and how it could possibly be applied to the Pythagorean theory to notice someone sneaking up next to me with an evil glint in their grey eyes and a just as twisted smile plastered on their face.

"BOO!"

"AAAHHHHHHHH!!"

I jumped up about three feet in the air and wheeled around, ready to pretty much massacre the fool behind me, to see who had just scarred ten years off of my life span to come face to face with none other than with the evil grinning face of my best friend in the whole world.

"Hey Sam, did d'ya miss me?"

"_Of course_, how could _anybody_ possibly not miss the crazy nut case who just so happens to look for any given opportunity to give you an early death from blood and heart failure," I replied with my words dripping in the sarcasm that was known for throughout the whole school for.

Proud of it too.

For those of you who haven't met her _(lucky you)_ I'd like to introduce the one and only Jennette Grommer and who just so happens to be my best friend since I first moved to this town.

Jennette wasn't what anybody would call normal but that's just the kind of people who I like. We may have our differences but I couldn't ask for a more loyal friend than her. She was sort of a mixture between punk and hip-hop but that just made her more of a fun person to be around.

Just like me she could care less on the newest trends and preferred to do things her own way and wasn't afraid to mouth off to anyone. But then again that's what sort of gets the both of us into a lot of trouble. I know that I can have an urge to be heard for something that I value but Jen takes it to a whole knew level so that I usually have to make sure that she doesn't end up doing anything stupid.

Playing along Jen mirrored me, _"I know! _I can't understand why Mrs. Birkins was so happy when she told us that she was retiring to Jamaica and begged me not to visit this summer."

I smiled at that and gave a weak laugh at that and placed my hand on my heart and took a couple breaths to slow down the frantic thumping that threatened to just jump out of my chest. Shaking my head I looked at her and sighed, "You know one of these days you're seriously going to end up driving someone to the hospital Jen."

She shrugged it off unconcerned, as usual, "Yeah, probably but until then I might as well get a kick out of life and scaring people for life just so happens to be fun and my god given talent... that and singing."

We walked down the hall together since we both had the same homeroom together chatting about the usual things about our life like school, home, work, or the recent ghost attacks on our town.

That's right I said ghost attacks. If I already haven't said this before I'll say it again anyway, Amity Park is haunted and is constantly being threatened by the spirits of the undead almost on a daily basis. I have no clue why ghosts would choose to even haunt this town since absolutely _nothing_ ever exciting happens here at all. Maybe it's just one of those many mysteries of life that will never be explained or solved...

"...So Sam how are things with the live Devil in Pradas?"

"Same as usual. She acts like her royal bitchiness of America. And I follow orders."

Jen shook her head for some reason, "Sam Manson I'll never understand why you let her push you around like that."

"_Because..._ If I ever want to get out of this town Jen then I have suck-up to Cruella Devil if I want to get that five grand I still need for my tuition if I don't get a scholarship." I explained for the millionth time to her.

"And you're going to get hands down! I mean you're an honors student, talented and with great athletics skills no matter how much you deny it. Face it I bet you can't even come up with the names of two colleges that wouldn't want to give you a full ride at their school." she said listing her reasons on her fingers to show me.

Good ole Jen, always the one to push people to their maximum potential even if it kills them. She's the kind of person who would definitely make an actual good politic, teacher, motivational speaker, or a lawyer for sure.

Like always I have to bring her back to reality for a second, "That may be but you got to remember something Jen."

"What?" she asked truly confused. We turned a corner and headed up the flight of stairs to the second level of the school.

I rolled my eyes at her niaveness, "...About half of the students who apply all have the same qualities that you've just named along with rich parents that are ready to give out fortunes just so that their precious children can get in to one the top schools in the country."

"Oh, well... uh... you've got something they don't have."

"And that would be..."

"Individuality! And that _'hell with that!' _attitude! That's got to count for something right?"

"Yeah but so does all of the money it costs." I pointed out once more hoping that she'd get the message this time.

Jen put on a frown crossed her arms and glared at me which I happily met with a smirk of my own, "You're no fun you know that," she grumbled, "Why can't for just once in your life look at the positives in life and how to use them to your advantage."

_O yeah she'd definitely make a good lawyer, _I said in my head but out loud I merely stated, "Look I'm not being negative about I'm just not getting my hopes up for something that might not happen okay."

"Then what's the fun in that, it's like my mom says '_What's the point of life if you never take any risks, sometimes the only one who's holding your own ass down is staring at you right in the mirror,'" _How the hell she ever manages to memorize nearly everyone of her mother's insane, but amazingly true, quotes and yet mentally challenged from being able to complete the National Anthem without it being written on a piece of paper in front of her is beyond me.

And that's saying something considering she's American and has heard that gay song almost everyday in school all of her educational life. Compared to the thousands of quotes her mom has written down. I honestly think that it just be easier to just make a book already.

I shook my head in amusement as we continued to room 219. "When are you going to bury your optimistic speeches already?"

"The same day that Claire is voted Miss Universe and marries someone ugly and poor," she shot back laughing.

"True enough," I sighed grinning at the mental image that was just now implanted in my head. Now _that _was something that I'd do almost anything to see. But I'd probably have to store that in the category of 'never going to happen in this life time'.

Her eyes suddenly took a more devious spark as we past by a bulletin board with flyers of up coming events including the Halloween Dance in big glittery letters that just made me want to gag at all the fluff on that one piece of paper.

If Halloween was suppose to be the holiday of the dead, then why did the Dance Committee use pink paper to advertise it instead of black? _Because the pink princess is head of the dance committee you dolt, _my mind jeered.

"What are you starring at?" Jen pretended she didn't hear me as we stopped so that I could look at what she was looking at and instantly regretted it as soon as I caught a whiff of what she was about to suggest.

"Hey Sam..."

"No." I automatically replied bluntly.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" she cried out exasperated and with a hint of being insulted in her tone.

"I know you too well Jen and so I'm going to save you the trouble. No." I walked away hastily hoping to avoid another attempt to get me to go to one of the school dances where she was just dying on hooking me up with someone. Jen just easily caught up and kept up with my fast pace.

"Come on Sam," she badgered on, "You've already missed all of the previous dances this school has had and you really need to get more of a social life other than just the cafe and me."

"And what's wrong with the friends I have," I challenged narrowing my eyes playfully at her.

"Don't get me wrong, you have great friends, the best in the world actually," she defended smugly, "But I'm talking more along the lines of a guy friend or better yet a boyfriend for you."

My face took a disgusted look on, "Ewe! Thanks but no thanks, I don't need or want a boyfriend. Let's not forget the last guy you and Vicky tried to hook me up with."

Jen slightly winced at that with guilt evident on her features, "Yeah but that was just one guy who's to say there isn't your version of Prince Charming out there for you."

"Right Jen, like my perfect match is going to just walk around the corner and- what is wrong with you and why are you drooling."

Jen wasn't responding since I think her brain had just temporarily died. I turned to see what had caught her attention only to instantly regret it the moment that I did.

Walking down the hall was none other than Danny Fenton. My cheeks suddenly started to feel hot at the moment and the whole time my palms became sweaty that I nearly dropped my book, my legs turned to jelly. To avoid embarrassing myself in front of him I quickly pretended to be reading the bulletin board hoping that he wouldn't notice me.

I don't know why I get this way around him when I usually have no problem talking with guys seeing as to I deal with them on a daily basis. Snapping back down to Earth I snapped my fingers in front of my still brain dead friend beside me.

"_Helloooo, _anybody in there?"

"Oh real funny Sam," she growled as I laughed at her reaction. "Can't you see I was busy."

"What drooling,"

"No," she snapped back.

I shook my head and motioned to where he and his friend Tucker Foley were being surrounded by a group of cheerleaders and giggling girls. "You might as well forget your little fantasy then Jen cause I doubt that he even knows that we exist."

"Always the negative." she sighed.

We finally made it to homeroom and quickly took are seats in the very back corner where all of the social rejects liked to sit. The bell rang just as we sat down.

So much for getting to study.

Mr. Lancer came in and quickly told everyone to settle down so that he could take roll. Like we'd actually listen to him, as soon as he started talking we did as well but not as loudly.

_"Hey Sam did you get number seven last night," _she whispered to me. I nodded and took out my paper and handed it to her so that she could see. Science had never been a strong subject for her. It seemed as though the book just hated her. _"Thanks," _

_"No problem,"_

"...Remember that the Halloween Dance is coming up and that appropriate dress is mandatory any rule violators will be asked to leave immediately and change into something else or else get a detention on Saturday morning where you will stay and help clean up." That didn't sound like much fun since Claire would absolutely kill me if I missed work that day.

"Also, for those of you who wish to enter this year's art contest please pick a form at the end of class or else go see the art department."

That was about the only interesting things he said the rest was about rules and homework so like many I was already dozing of and waiting until the bell rang so I could get to first period.

----------

"...Remember art is about expressing yourself and allowing your life and emotions to show in a physical form for the world to see. Don't keep it bottled other wise you won't be able to pass this class not while I'm in charge."

Out of all my classes I've got to say that Art Appreciation has got to be one of my favorite's especially since it's taught my one hell of an awesome teacher too.

Even though Ms. Krangher is about the same age as Lancer she acts as if she was just fresh out of college but with all the wisdom of twenty years worth of teaching mixed in as well. The way she teaches is pretty deep and awakening than the regular 'you can do it and I'm only saying this or I'd get fired' attitude that most of the teachers here have.

Ms. K doesn't play favorites around here and as far as I know about her from being in her class for a couple of years now, she could care less about what the school board thought of her teaching methods or the number of times that students or parents complained to her.

Paulina used to be in her class but she only lasted about two weeks. That moment of my life was _priceless..._

_---_

_"Move loser!" _

_I grunted in discomfort as my shin made contact with the table as I was putting the finishing touches on a project that I had been working really hard on and as usual she had to come and ruin it. _

_The project was for everyone to create something that reminded them of a very special person and we could use what ever we wanted. I was busy adding some pieces of glass to my sculpture the dragon in my snow globe so that the scales could look transparent capturing light and illuminating everything around it._

_She walked over to where I was working on with a paint brush in her hand. Looking at my dragon she sniffed and shoved her nose into the air as if she had just seen something really repulsive. "And what is that suppose to be?" she pointed to my project with a smirk. _

_Being stupid and not loving that tone of her's I rose to the bait, "It's a dragon. Or is your nose so way up that you couldn't tell the difference between your new nose job and your own mother," I shot back. _

_Her face took a turn for the worst as she had her mouth held open for a second gaping at me like she couldn't believe what she had just heard. For a moment there neither did I but she just made me so mad sometimes that I was quick to throw all caution into the winds, grind them into ashes, and bury them at the deepest pit in hell._

_Then her pretty face turned red in embarrassment and anger and she pointed a finger at me, "How dare you little Goth freak!" she whispered as if she was barely containing the urge to shout out loud. She slammed her fist down on the table so hard that my dragon almost fell off the table. _

_"Hey!" I grabbed onto the base to steady it since at the moment it only had three legs and was still missing one wing that I had yet to glue on since I was still putting the scales on. _

_Paulina suddenly got a strange look in her eye that was gone so fast that I didn't have time to register it before it was too late to do anything about it. "Wow you must have worked really hard on that project then huh Sam if you care so much about it." she said sweetly._

_Despite that the way she said it just made me feel as if I just got a root canal with an iron drill pounding on it. Before I knew what she was down, she gracefully swung her arms in an arc like a ballerina knocking my project off the table sending it crashing to the floor into several pieces. _

_"Oops! My bad, I'm so sorry Sammy. Sometimes I'm such a klutz." _

_That little witch wasn't sorry at all! In fact I bet she was enjoying the look at my face as all of my hard work was now laying on the floor in several pieces, the once beautiful master piece that I had created was now severed body parts of a once soon-to-be magnificent beast. _

_I felt so many things that I was trembling while she just stood there with a smile like someone had just said something funny. But there was nothing funny about this, this was just plain cruel and evil. _

_This was the last straw!_

_"Paulina Sanchez to the office immediately! And I'll be seeing you in detention for the next three weeks!" _

_We both turned to see Ms. K in her usual attire of faded jeans that were probably from her college days, a green T-shirt with several stains on it that made it hard to even identify the color unless you asked her what color her shirt was, some old rubber black boots that you see farmers wearing while doing some dirty jobs, rectangular glasses on the bridge of her nose, and finally a black base-ball cap on backwards that had the Happy Bunny on it saying 'Ask me if I give a damn.'_

_She didn't look to happy and even down right murderous even with an angry fire glowing in her eyes that made her look like a tiger about to pounce. Her hands were on her hips as she look at my project on the floor to me then to Paulina. _

_Since Paulina was still a new student, not having had taken Ms. K's class before she was a bit confused when the teacher addressed her in that matter, "Excuse me?"_

_"You heard me," Ms. K repeated getting agitated quickly with the cheer leaders dumb reaction, "To the office now and you'll be in detention with me for the next three weeks."_

**_"_**_WHAAAAAATTTTTTTT_!!!!!!!" _she screeched shaking the windows and even getting some curious stares from the hallway. "You can't do that to me!!"_

_"Sure I can, I'm the teacher and you're the student. I'm in charge and you have to follow my rules. And since you just broke one of the biggest rules here then I'm in the position to punish your sorry ass right here and now."_

_"Do you even know who I am!" that wasn't a question but sounded more like an insult. _

_"Of course I do..." Ms. K replied smoothly with a frosty glare, "You're obviously a student who thinks herself better than others even going as far as destroying their project just to ensure that your ego remains the same size as your mouth. No matter my detention is sure to give it the kick that it needs."_

_Paulina looked shock. No teacher had ever talked to her like that or even given her a detention before let alone three weeks worth of it. All the teachers in the past would always give her what she wanted just like everybody else and would treat her like a princess because she was rich and on the cheer leading quad that are glory to this god forsaken place. _

_"I'm sure that the school board won't appreciate this after all what did I do?" she asked smugly. _

_"Oh believe they will," the teacher countered back pointing at one of the many vases she had around the room. Each one coming from a different country since Ms. K liked to travel and see the world she always brought back a piece of art to show everyone and encourage them to be unique by studying different styles. _

_"You see I like to keep record of how my students work so that I can use it to teach future classes and put together a little documentary for the end of the year students to enjoy who'll be graduating."_

_Paulina obviously had no clue what the woman in front of her was talking about so Ms. K continued on explaining, "There's a camera in there and you were in full view of it." _

_That just hit the nail on the head when Paulina realized that she had just been caught on tape, "B-B-But you can't..." she whispered weakly but Ms. K cut her off and pointed towards the door._

_"I can and as a bonus I'll be calling your parents about this..."_

_--------_

Her parents weren't to please and even threatened to sue but Ms. K was three steps ahead of them since the school board already knew about the cameras and since it clearly showed hat it was Paulina she had no choice but to face utter humiliation in detention for a week.

The school board did decide over three weeks but that didn't make every bit as enjoyable since she had to spend two hours everyday with Ms. K cleaning up the back storage closet.

I got an intension so that I could fix my dragon and got an A on it too to boot.

Too bad that was the only major good thing that happened to me at this school this year.

Sighing I got back to finishing my sketch that I was working on right now. It was nothing special, just a picture of a tree with some unknown person underneath looking out at something. You couldn't see their face because their back was to you and the only thing for sure was that the person was a boy and that they had black hair other than that...

I don't know why but I've been drawing this unknown figure for a long time for no reason lately, and it was getting really aggravating since I didn't know who the hell they were.

Ms. K came up to me with a concerned look, "Hey Sam what bugging huh kid?"

"W-What?"

"What am I a parrot, I said what's wrong with you and don't make me have to repeat myself again."

"Nothing... I was just thinking..." I said.

"About what?" she questioned me.

I knew I wouldn't be able to let the subject drop until I gave her an answer that she would be pleased with so I replied, "Just about my life."

"Oh?" Ms. K quirked an eyebrow up, "What about your life, other than the fact that you have the queen of evil and her army of devils living with you, I don't see what else is wrong."

"It's just that..." I wasn't totally comfortable talking about these kinds of things with anybody but I knew that Ms. K was someone that I could trust with anything along with Jen and Vicky of course... "I feel like I'm missing out on something but I don't know what."

Ms. K just stood there for a moment thinking before she spoke, "Well maybe it's because you're thinking too hard, sometimes the thing that you're looking for ends up finding you when you least expect it and in the most unlikely places as well."

I smiled weakly at that, "That just made no sense what so ever you know."

She just smiled right back and laughed, "Of course it makes sense you just have to know where to look for the meaning."

Huh?

I looked away from her when my eyes caught sight of something new in the class, "Hey Ms. K,"

"Hmm?"

"Who did that?"

"Did what?"

"That," I pointed to a picture that seemed almost hidden behind a couple of others. I got up and walked over to where it was and pulled it out to examine it even closer.

It was a painting of a wolf that seemed to be leaping through the air leaving behind some sort of blue entity with a crescent moon behind it. It seemed to be glowing even with the tactic that the artist used to make it seem like the wolf was actually alive and almost flying out of the picture like a ghost almost.

The one thing that really captured me was the creature's eyes. They had so much emotion in them; determination, focus, strength, and also a look of loneliness like it was looking for something that so far away yet so close at the same time. Those golden eyes just looked so sad...

I was so focused on the eyes that I didn't see Ms. K walk up behind me there for startling me, "its nice isn't it?"

I practically dropped it but caught myself in time thankfully. "Yeah," I admitted, "who did it?"

Ms. K got a strange expression on her face, "Oh just a kid that goes to this school, has talent but too shy to do anything about it."

"Someone in one of your classes?"

"Nope, they said that they just do this kind of things in order to relieve stress, I don't think they quite realize what a gift they have."

"I'll say," I looked back at the picture in my hands and tried to look for a name but all that I found was a small capital D at the very corner.

* * *

**I know I'm slow but this one took a while for me to finally sit down and write. Now you know Ms. K and Jen and Danny was included but not as much I'm still working on where I'm taking this story. **

**Now I have a very important question for everyone who reads this. I'm thinking of adding a new story but I don't know which. Now which would you rather see...**

**A story with vampires?**

**Or one with Youngblood? **

**The one with the most votes will be published every vote counts. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A whole freaking year since I've updated! What the hell is wrong with me? I seriously need to get a schedule or something otherwise I'm never going to get this done. Sorry for the long wait but I finally got my brain working and from now on I'm going to force myself to write one page a day any one of my stories. That'll at least give me some momentum. The last chapter's title was a typo. This is the **_**real **_**chapter three. **

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**Chapter 3**

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"**SAM!!"**

_Ugh… what does that woman want now? _I asked myself, glancing at the clock.

_**It was six in the morning!**_

This was an all new way that Clare was torturing me without any authority figures noticing, by waking me up before the sun and on the weekend. It's bad enough putting up with her on week days but now she has to take away the only chance of a good night's sleep too, how heartless was she? There was nothing I wanted more than to just take that stupid box she uses me to order me around and just shove it up her liposucked ass.

"_**SAM!!"**_

Groaning, I forced myself to get out of the warmth of my covers and reach over to press the stupid talk button, "What is it?" I asked too tired to hide my grumpiness.

"_Don't you take that tone with me," _she warned_, "I need you to take the early morning shift today right after your finish all of you chores."_

"But it's Saturday," I complained in disbelief.

"_I don't care.__ I need an extra pair of hands there for today's special and to get the place ready for when the inspector's arrival," _she replied.

"But that's not until two weeks from now!" I argued.

"_Look, the last review he gave us lost us most of our better clustomers," _I rolled my eyes happy that she couldn't see and by 'better' she meant richer. She really disgusted me at times. _"Meaning, that we have to be prepared before he comes otherwise everyone will be working double shifts. Got it." _Now I knew she wasn't kidding. That was not a question it was a fact, and knowing that Clare was heartless enough to go through with her threat I quickly responded like a trained dog.

"Got it."

"_Good." T_hen in a lighter tone she yawned, _"Now I'm going back to sleep. Now hurry and do what you have to do here before you head out for the café." _With one last click the connection was cut and I had no doubt that right about now she was snoring peacefully.

I flopped back onto my bed and screamed into my pillow all of my frustration until my throat was completely sore and then placed my pillow back, struggling to get up and get dressed. _Just once was a break so hard to ask for? _I got dressed grabbing my backpack on the way out, making sure to grab a couple of my textbooks, cell phone, wallet, and stuck my iPod into my pocket. That way I was set to not have to come back to this Barbie town house until at least ten.

I shut the door behind me and quietly went downstairs, making sure not to wake Clare or my cousins. The last thing I needed were either one of those three breathing down my neck every five seconds. If I was lucky I would be done before they even figured out what day it was today and I could be out of here without any trouble and for once not start off with a murderous intent.

Sighing in relief as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I walked outside to my car and put my bag in there so I wouldn't forget it. Then set to work on my outdoor chores which involved pulling weeds from the flower beds and raking up the leaves in the yard. I took out my head phones and quickly tuned in to my music while I worked on the flowers.

To be honest I really didn't mind the gardening since it was pretty relaxing and help me get my mind off things. I've loved nature and my grandmother and I would always come out and tend to the flowerbeds together. The only time I do mind this sort of labor is when I have to do it during the summer under the hot sun with Nina and Tina constantly harassing me about how much dirt was getting on the driveway or how horrible my nails were with all the dirt underneath them.

_Oh…one of these days they are __**really **__going to get what's coming to them. _They had trunk loads of bad karma racked up against them and it was only a matter of time before it came back to haunt them.

I focused on channeling all of my aggression against the poor unsuspecting weeds as I yanked them out one by one until I was finally done, a little sweaty from all of that, but thankfully done. With that done, I walked over to the shed to grab the rake. It was still pretty early and the sun had just now begun to emerge heating everything up, for yet another steaming day of all sun and no rain. Just like it's been for the past several months now. The morning sun was something I absolutely hated; I have no clue why some people actually _enjoy _it. It gets all up in your face and just makes you hot and sweaty in a matter of seconds.

Raising a hand to shield my eyes from its bright glare, I headed across Clare's perfectly manicured green lawn to the small tin house that stood hidden in the shadows of a tall tree from the neighbor's yard. Thankfully, it was cooler under there than it was outside the shaded area as the sun quickly did its job of warming the earth and air around me, making me like the dark, cool, and secluded bed even more. The shed was one of the few things around here that Clare hadn't changed since she got the house, mostly because she hardly ever noticed it and because she thought that it was haunted or something.

It was a load of crap but thankfully it was one place I sometimes went to escape from her and my cousins when I was stuck here. It was old and rusting so badly in some places that the metal was practically see through but to me it was a safe shelter away from Hurricane Clare and typhoons Nina and Tina. The door creaked loudly and stopped halfway open. I grunted at I yanked hard to get the old hinges to go a few inches further so that I could get inside and get the rake. Sweat poured down the sides of my face as I strained to open the stupid door.

_"Come on…open!" _I commanded crossly at the piece of old wood that was currently causing me so much strife and stubbornly refusing to open.

Giving it one last tug it finally opened with a loud screech that you could compare with the sound of nails against a black board. I couldn't help but wince at how loud it was and quickly stole a glance up at Clare's bedroom window.

_"Please don't wake, please don't wake up, please don't wake up!" _I chanted under my breath over and over again while watching for any signs of movement that would indicate that one of the bitchiest and biggest pains in my ass had woken up.

After several minutes passed with nothing but the sound of my heart beating rapidly and birds singing, I let out a sigh of relief that Clare hadn't woken up. "Well at least two things have gone right this morning," I said to myself happily.

I squeezed through the opening and stood in the dark for a minute while my eyes adjusted to the darkness. Soon, I could see the outline of a few things in there. Not much was kept in here except for gardening tools and some of my stuff like a few of my drawings that I hardly showed to anyone, even Jen or Vicky. The rake stood in the back corner; I held my arms in front of my in order to keep from running into something on accident and to prevent any injuries.

I stumbled a bit when I came into contact with a bucket and grabbed hold of something to keep from falling down. Unfortunately for me, being oh so graceful, I didn't noticed an old tool box lying on the ground behind me and as I took a step back I ended up tripping over. My hands scrambling to find a handhold that never appeared, I ended up having my head had break the fall. My head throbbing, I I laid there on the ground scowling at some unseen force. _'If I ever find out who the hell is torturing me up there are __**so **__going to pay!' _I promised myself rubbing my head and wincing at touching a newly formed lump.

I blew a piece of my hair out of my face before rolling onto my belly in order to get up. Halfway up, I stopped when I caught sight or two large blue-green eyes looking straight at me from the shadows of the rake I wanted. My body was completely paralyzed and transfixed on those eyes that blinked at me and seemed to try to go even further into the corner.

Rising to my feet I slowly grabbed the rake and was prepare to defend myself. Once the rake was gone so was the creature's hideout. I held the rake like a staff in front of me but stopped when I caught sight of what the shadows had unveiled and looked down at the strange eyes again.

I couldn't help but break out in a small smile.

--

"_Awwww, _he's so cute!" giggled Jen. She took the kitten from my hands and held it up to her face rubbing her nose against the kitten's. It licked her in response, sending Jen into another girly fit of giggles. "So what's his name?" she asked me cradling the kitten in her arms that was purring contently, soaking up all the attention.

"_Her _name," I corrected. "It's a girl cat."

"Well, she's pretty enough that's for sure." Jen scratched the black feline, who purred even louder in content in her arms.

I have to say that the little kitten sure got over her shyness pretty quickly; it had taken a while for me to gently coax it out of the corner and to gain her trust so that I could pet her. She seemd to be able to sense that I wasn't a threat to she her, allowing me pick her up and take her out of the shed into the light to get a better look at her. She was really under wieght and dirty. It didn't surprise me, it seemed as though she had been on her own for quite some time and whatever grooming she did on her own wasn't very effective. But underneath the dirt I could say that she was mostly black.

After hurrying through my chores _(okay so I skipped a few of them), _I headed to the cafe with the kitten and got to work tying the kitten to a leash in the back storage room with some fish and a saucer of milk. I hated tying her up but I had to make sure that she wouldn't wander off. Besides, I really didn't think she noticed the makeshift leash that I made from my shoe laces as much as the plate of food in front of her. Poor thing ate like it hadn't had a decent meal since it was born.

It was a living hell all morning, and that family that came in for breakfast that had two obnoxious brats was not making my day. One of them ended up crying because he wanted more bacon (_Ew! Doesn't anyone understand the meaning of vegetarian?!), _and the other one was shooting spitballs at my back the whole time I was working. When I went to scowl at the kid his parents got all up in my face about mistreating their 'poor child'. I had half a mind to shoot off my mouth at those two with a few choice words but luckily Vicky had intervened in time to keep me from probably ending up in juvie for attempt at murder. Around noon she kicked me out saying that I needed to have some fun and to also get rid of my new friend since it wouldn't stop staring at her.

That was when Jennette had texted me to meet her in front of the ice cream parlor by the park, she had also mentioned something about cute boys but I had hung up on her the moment she had said 'boys'. I was already in a bad mood and I didn't feel like hearing her drool over some guy over the phone. The live action sequence was bad enough as it was.

I took a lick of my tofu ice cream with gummy bats, catching some of it that had melted slightly at the sides. We were sitting outside since all the inside booths were taken and I didn't want to hear all the gossip flying around in there. True it was like a billion degrees hotter outside but at least we were under some shade.

"Anyways Sam, back to business…"

"No," I cut her off bluntly, knowing full well what she was going to say.

"Oh come on! You should go," she insisted despite my glare at her. "It's the Halloween Dance so it won't be like the Spring Fling, Homecoming, or the Winter Ball."

"I said no. You know how much I hate those things."

"How would you know? You never been to a _single one!_" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air and drawing some attention to herself from some of the pedestrians on the sidewalk. Jen, as usual, ignored all the curious stares. "Please Sam, I'm finally going to get to be the DJ and I really want t you to be there." She gave me a pair of her saddest puppy dog eyes ever.

_Damn it! Whoever invented that trick should be shot in the head over and over again and then burned alive._

I sighed, "Jen even if I did want to go I wouldn't be able to,"

She blinked at me with a blank expression. "Why?"

"Um…Hello, remember Clare? Evil, plastic, over forty year old, slave driver? Ringing any bells in there?" I tapped her head.

"You mean the one with the giant bat wings that goes flying at night killing the hopes and dreams or everyone and stealing and eating children? _It rings a bell_…" I smacked my hand against my forehead hard enough that it was sure to leave it red. "But so what? Do what every other teenager in America does: sneak out."

"I can't just miss work," I told her. "And besides, even if I did have an actually _good _reason to go—which I don't—"

"Oh! And I'm not a good reason?!" she asked, sounding insulted.

I rolled my eyes and ignored her, "I don't have anything to wear."

"So, we can go and get you a costume right now. I saw this really great one of a pirate. Maybe you could go as that or maybe even as a—"

"_Face down in the dirt she said this doesn't hurt,_

_She said 'I finally had enough!'"_

Thank-you lord! I was saved my ringtone, cutting off my best friend's crazy thought bubbles. I flipped it open to see I had a text message.

"Oh that's really polite," Jen grumbled. She never was one to take being ignored well, "So who is it? 'Cause if it's bubble butt Clare I'm going to take that phone and shove it down her throat so far that it'll—"

"Will you relax already," I said trying to get her to stop ranting, "It's not from Clare."

"Who's it from then?" Suddenly she got this really weird look in her eyes that I _really_ didn't like, "Is it from your secret admirer?" she asked, smiling slyly. I gave her another glare, which she returned by sticking her tongue out at me.

_'Real mature.'_

I turned my attention back to my phone and opened the message up. It was from **GhostBoy, **we had met in this Doom chat room about a couple of months ago and had instantly hit it off. He was a pretty good player too and the only guy I've ever met that actually had a brain (most of the time).

**GhostBoy: **_what's up?_

**Chaos: **_not much just hanging out with a friend who won't shut up_

"_Hey! _I resent that!" I practically dropped my phone from fright from Jen sneaking up on me like that. The girl really should give some sort of warning before doing something like that.

"Don't scare me like that! And it's not polite to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation Jennette." I scowled.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," she stated, rolling her eyes. "Eavesdropping is when you _listen _in a person's conversation. I was reading over your shoulder. There's a huge difference," she said knowingly.

_Yeah right._

"Whatever," I said and got back to my phone where my cyber friend had written back.

**GhostBoy: **_same here but I'm sure that an ice cream down his throat will do the trick_

I laughed a bit at that and responded.

**Chaos: **_maybe. but if he has a big mouth wouldn't he be able to just eat it?_

**GhostBoy: **_you just love crushing my fantasies don't you?_

**Chaos: **_everyone needs a hobby and you just make it too easy_

**Ghost Boy: **(grumbles) _you really know how to make people feel loved_

I was in the middle of sending another message when I caught sight of Jen up against the window of the ice cream parlor peering inside. "What are you doing?" I asked curiously.

"Seeing if your boyfriend is in here somewhere." She scanned the area with her eyes, "I'm pretty sure that he is."

I crossed my arms in front of my chest, "And what makes you say that?"

"_Because… _He said in his message that he was going to shove ice cream down his friend's throat, meaning that he's having ice cream right," I merely nodded while my new kitten just looked at what the strange girl against the glass was doing—emphasis on 'strange'. "So I figure he must be here somewhere."

"How would you know if it's him?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Simple, I just have to look for boys who are with at least one or two friends, eating ice cream, and text messaging right now. Quick, send a message," she ushered me with her hand never taking her eyes off the glass.

I rolled my eyes but decided to simply complied since I still needed to write back anyways. There was another message already there though.

**GhostBoy:** _you still there?_

**Chaos: **_yeah I'm still here. just had to amuse my friend _

**GhostBoy: **_what are they doing?_

I glanced over at Jen who had now holding the cat against the glass in one hand and looking in with the other.

**Chaos: **_you don't wanna know_

**GhostBoy: **_what are you thinking about?_

**Chaos: **_how some people need to learn not eavesdrop_

**GhostBoy: **_technically it's only eavesdropping if someone is listening to a conversation_

**Chaos: **_noooo… eavesdropping can be reading other people's messages_

**GhostBoy: **(rolls eyes) _that's called spying and there's a difference _

**Chaos: **_no there isn't _

**GhostBoy: **_yes there is_

**Chaos: **_no there isn't _

**GhostBoy: **_yes there is_

Okay this guy may have only existed in cyber-space but I was seriously resisting the temptation to stick out my tongue at my phone and was getting ready to retort back.

I heard a crash and looked to see Jen in the bushes while some guy in a long sleeve. red and white striped shirt tapped on the glass saying something to her that I couldn't hear. But whatever it is that he had said had gotten my loud mouth of a best friend back up on her feet and glaring at the guy through the window. Looks like it was time to make our exit before someone filed a restraining order against her (again).

**Chaos: **_got to go. we'll finish this in Doom_

**GhostBoy: **_you are so going down_

**Chaos: **_not even in your dreams_

With that said I closed my phone and headed over to Jen and the guy to sort things out and try not to get him to press any criminal charges against her for anything she may have broken or caused. It was funny to see two people yelling at each other through a wall of glass. I was seriously tempted to see how it would end but it was just too hot to put up with all the authoritive harassment that was sure to follow suit.

I quickly scooped up my new kitten (who've I've yet to name) in one hand and with my other one I grabbed hold of Jennette's wrist. Dragging her out of the bushes back to our table while sending the guy inside a quick apology. She instantly started protesting.

"Hey! Let go Sam, that guy needs to learn a few manners." She sent a glare in the window's direction.

"He's not the only one," I quipped. "Seriously; can't you go one day without starting an argument with everyone you meet?"

"I didn't start it he did," she pointed at the window where the guy was now cleaning it and glaring at the back of my friend's head. "He was all _'stop that you're scarring my customers'_ and _'you're dirtying my window'_ and going on about some other crap. I had to defend myself." I let her walk on her own power back to where we had been sitting to get our stuff. "Sam, are you even paying attention?"

"Not now. It's too hot," I groaned.

"Fine," she pouted. "Be that way."

"I will," I said, slinging my bag onto my shoulder. "Now let's get out of here and go to the movies or something. I hear that _Dead Man's Blood 4_ has come out."

Jen's face quickly lost all color and it looked like she had just seen a ghost, "Oh come on Sam, not another gory horror movie, I'm still freaked out about the last one you made me go see."

"Don't be such a baby; _The Rise of Evil _wasn't that scary. It hardly had as much gore or violence as _Texas Chainsaw Massacre _or even_ IT," _I said smirking.

"Yeah, well, that's you okay. I'm talking about me here. You know I can't stand the sight of blood. Why do you think that I quit wanting to be a doctor years ago?"

"Because you barely passed biology and you hate the fact that you've got to study a lot harder?" I pointed out.

"Oh ha ha," she frowned.

I sighed, "Fine what do you want to see?"

"Well I wanted to see _Under the Stars…"_

Okay. Now it was my turn to look horrified and make a face, "The sappy love story?"

"It's not sappy--just the book it was loosely based on," she pointed out. "And it's really good. It's not all that mushy lovey dovey stuff, it's got a lot of action and fighting in it to keep you satisfied. Plus the main character is really hot," she replied, stroking the kitten's black fur dreamingly. I was still not convinced to go see it. "_It has vampires…" _she sang out.

Now we're talking. _"_Fine," I gave in. "But if I don't like I'm heading over to see _Dead Man's Blood, _deal?"

"Deal," she chirped happily.

We grabbed our now melted ice creams and threw them away when I remembered something, "Oh wait, hang on a minute Jen I need to go inside and get this new art magazine that just came out." I handed the kitten over to Jen and was about to open the door when…

"_Oof."_

I wasn't sure what had happened. All that I knew was that I was on the ground with a dull pain around the left side of my forehead and at the back of my head, most likely from when I hit the concrete. I groaned and tried to sit up with one hand holding my temple to keep my vision from the slight spinning. I couldn't even manage to lift my headmore than a few inches before I fell back again. Black splotches danced at the edge of my vision but after a while they started to recede.

"…Oh man, I am so sorry! Are you okay?"

The voice barely penetrated my skull and only made it to my brain after a few sluggish seconds. My vision was finally starting to focus back to normal. Then I felt someone's hand on my back as they helped to steady me a bit. It was strong hold and for some reason it gave me chills. Probably because who's ever hand it belonged to was really cold, like someone was touching me with an ice cube cold.

"Hey, you all alright?" they repeated with worry and sincere concern. That voice sounded male but my head was still a bit fuzzy so I couldn't exactly place it but I knew I had heard it somewhere before...

I opened my eyes a crack to find the most electrifying and mesmerizing blue eyes I've ever seen. They had raven hair falling over them to give them a sort of enchanted look to them. And they were starring at me.

For a second I was lost in those eyes I wasn't even aware of anyone else until someone pushed the eyes away from my direct line of vision. "…Sam, _Sam! Wake up!" _Now _this _voice I instantly recognized.

"Jen?" I asked groggily, looking to see her above me with a look of worry etched over her face. "What the hell happened?" I groaned, now able to sit up on my own and began to rub my temples to ease the pain.

"Oh that god your okay," she let out a breath of relief clutching her chest, "Don't ever scare me like that Sam, you almost blacked out there for a second."

"Ugh…My head is killing me." It felt like I had been hit by a sledge hammer.

"Well I'm not surprised." I glanced over to where the new voice had come from to see a boy around my age with a red barrade on his head, he was wearing a military green vest, a yellow short sleeved shirt , green cargo shorts and had a PDA in one hand. _Where had I seen him before? _"We were all scared you had cracked your skull or something when you fell and hit your head on the ground like that."

"But your okay now right?" a new voice spoke and I found, as I turned my head and I saw that it was the same guy who had his hand on my back to hold me up. I couldn't help but feel a light blush creep up to my cheeks when I found myself practically in the arms of Danny Fenton.

"Yeah I'm fine," I said quickly getting up, trying to calm the knot in my stomach that had suddenly formed in my stomach.

"Are you sure?" he asked worried, "I'm really sorry for hitting you with the door like that; it was all my fault." He apologized helping me get to my feet and in the process sending another chill down my spine.

"It sure was," the guy with the PDA spoke up. "If you hadn't been text messaging and instead had been looking where you were going—you're just lucky that this girl didn't get a concussion."

"I said I was sorry Tuck," Danny snapped back at the boy named Tuck agitated.

"Really it's no problem…" I wavered off, turning my gaze away from his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered back lamely still not quite wanting to meet his eyes, "It's no big deal."

"I'm really sorry for that, I should have been watching where I was going," he said again his voice laced with guilt.

"Yeah, you should have," I shot back before I could stop myself; I guess the near concussion had jumbled my brain a bit.

"Yeah well." He chuckled lightly, rubbing a hand on the back of his head nervously, looking really cute.

_Snap out of Sam!_

Suddenly he gasped and I don't know whether it was my throbbing head, the heat, the fact that I was with a really cute guy, or all three but I could have sworn I had seen a blue mist coming out of his mouth.

"I have to go," he said quickly. "Again I'm really sorry, come on Tucker I forgot I had to go pick up a few things for Jazz."

"But isn't she in—Ow!" Tucker rubbed his arm, glaring at his friend before a strange look passed onto his face for a second. "Oh right," he said, his expression masked all of the sudden. "Let's go then. It was nice to meet you bye!" He waved good-bye and ran over to where Danny had already started up his motorcycle and as soon as his best friend had hoped on the side carriage he took off with a roar of the engine down the road. I started at their back s until they had turned the corner that lead to down town.

_Okay that was a little weird…_

"I don't believe it…"

"Don't believe what?" I asked, curiously, shaking out of my musings of the two boys' strange behavior to look over at Jennette, who was starring in a daze at where the motorcycle had gone.

"Danny Fenton talked to us," she squealed like an obsessed fan girl. "And you were practically in his arms!" She squealed again making me cringe at the noise.

_Someone please shoot me._

"Will you pipe _down," _I hissed at her. Grabbing hold of my bag and my cat I started to walk away and towards my car as quickly as possible. "Let's just get out of here and go to the movies like we planned okay."

"Oh all right." She hopped into the passenger seat, not bothering to use the door since my car was a convertible. I shifted to drive and drove off towards the movie theatres in the opposite direction. We rode in silence, both of us enjoying the wind around us cooling us off a bit from the damn heat.

"So Sam," Jen yelled over the roar of my engine and the wind, "Are you sure you don't want to come to the dance? It'll be lots of fun. We can make fun of Paulina and her cronies and see which one of them dressed the sluttiest this year." she suggested, pulling the still nameless kitten in her lap.

I had to smile; that did sound like a bit of fun. However, my thoughts on how the Queen Bitch of Casper would manage to outdo herself from last year's outfit where she had nearly been arrested for looking like a hooker were interrupted by a red blinking E on my dashboard indicating my near empty gas tank.

"Hang on for a second I have to put in some gas." I turned the steering wheel, leading my car towards the nearest seven eleven.

"Seriously, Sam you need to get this thing fixed or something," Jen said as I stopped next to an open gas pump and got out of my car.

"Believe me if I could I would. I mean, do you know how hard it is to be someone who is against oil companies and yet my car seems to be the total opposite." I pulled out my wallet and got out almost half of my last pay check.

"Then have it upgraded. I hear that's a lot cheaper," she countered offhandedly, leaning back to stare up at a loose piece of hair on her face. She began playing with it while she waited for me to fill up.

"Not cheap enough. Not with my job," I reminded her.

"You know, I'm pretty sure that there are a few child labors laws against the way that Clare has you working like a slave."

"Whatever," I looked through my wallet and realized that I had forgotten my gas card. _"Shit!"_

"What is it?" Jen asked worriedly, sitting upright.

"I forgot my gas card," I turned to face her and sighed. "I'll just have to go inside and get gas the old fashion way I guess." I reached over to the car ignition and plucked my keys out of them, mostly out of habit. Even though I'm pretty sure no one would even _want _to steal my car, especially when there was someone in it, I wasn't going to take any chances and I sure as hell wasn't going to leave my keys in the ignition with someone next to it that had failed her driver's ed. classes eight times. I quickly plucked them out in one fluid motion; I didn't even notice that my phone had slipped out of my pocket.

A mistake I was soon about to regret.

I started walking towards the store. "Get me a Snicker!" I heard Jen call out from behind me. I chuckled lightly at me friend's slight obsession with the bar of chocolate as I stepped inside. I heard the sound of bells ringing overhead.

I walked over to the counter where the employee was currently busy reading a magazine. I grabbed the candy and placed it on the counter. "Gas for pump number eight," I said quickly.

He merely grunted and rang me up, punching in some numbers on the cash register. I handed him the money and he gave me my change and receipt all while never bothering to take his eyes off the magazine.

My eyes narrowed at the guy for being so rude but I held back the sarcastic comment that was about to come out. I should be used to this by now since I get this sort of attitude all the time at school and from Clare.

I stuffed my change into my pocket and grabbed the candy bar before I made my way to my car. Jen's back was hunched over and facing me.

"Hey I'm back," I announced my presence making her jump nearly two feet in the air and whirl around me pale faced.

She evened out her breathing, clutching her heart. "Geez Sam, you scared me."

"Well sorry," I smirked at her holding up her treat in front of her like bait. "But I thought you would have wanted this."

"Yeah, uh-huh, that's great."

Okay that threw me for a loop, since when did Jennette Grommer not take notice of a Snickers bar?

"Hey, remember when you said that you didn't have a good enough reason for going to the Halloween Dance?"

"_Yeeeaaaahhhh_…" I said warily. A feeling at the pit of my stomach was gnawing inside, telling me that I wouldn't like where this conversation was going.

"Well, now you do!" she chirped, throwing her hands in the air as she proclaimed the next part for dramatic effect. "Samantha Manson, I just got you a date with,wait for it... **Ghost Boy**!"

My mind and body just completely froze and my mouth hung open, gaping at her.

'…'

"Uh… Sam? Hello…Sam?"

"…"

"Sam?" she asked nervously.

Just then everything came back to me along with my speech.

"_**YOU DID WHAT!?"**_

* * *

**There we go. Stay tuned for the next chapter when Sam attempts to kill Jennette. **

**Thank-you to all of those who stuck by me despite my lack of updating and a special thanks to my new beta-reader **_inukagome15_**. With out her this would have been a piece of shit.**


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